Learn more about us!
Stearman181.com is owned and operated by Larry Dustman. Larry received his pilots license in 1978 and has over 800 Stearman hours (over 200 of formation flying). A member of the Arizona Antique Aircraft Association – Stearman Group and holds a JLFC Flight Leader card. He regularly volunteers to fly formations for the Veterans Cemetery Funerals, Special Events, Parades and Air Shows in the Southwest United States. Larry has been professionally restoring classic cars for over 40 years and has applied that experience to the Stearman Aircraft world. Larry owns Stearman181, NEV-Accessories and The Thing Shop.
-The Team at The Thing Shop
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About Us
NEV Accessories, The Thing Shop, and Stearman181 are owned and operated by Michele and Larry Dustman. Located in Chandler, Arizona, Stearman181.com is a company operating within The Thing Shop, where we manufacture parts for the Volkswagen Thing.
The Dustman’s have been in business for over 40 years. Originally known as The Trim Shop, Larry specialized in automobile (Mercedes, Porsche, VW) and aircraft interiors. Larry and The Trim Shop gained an outstanding reputation for excellent upholstery work with great attention to detail.
Michele quit her job as an office manager at a large corporation to devote herself fulltime to The Trim Shop. About 1985 Larry and Michele purchased a Thing for their trips to Mexico.
About 1995, VW of Mexico liquidated all remaining Thing (Type 181) stock to Larry and Michele. They decided to purchase all they could to bring back to the U.S. Eight tractor-trailer loads and one warehouse later, The Trim Shop became the largest vendor of NOS and quality replacement VW Thing parts in the world. The Trim Shop officially changed its name to The Thing Shop on January 2, 1997. We ship globally NOS and quality replacement parts that we had made just for us. Our Stearman parts are made in the same facilities as our VW Thing parts.
We continually look for new ways to improve service here at Stearman181, The Thing Shop and NEV Accessories. We enjoy an excellent reputation for the level of service our team provides and we’d like to keep it that way. Your comments and suggestions are always welcome. You can address any comments or concerns to orders@nevaccessories.com or orders@thethingshop.com.
